Behind This Mask
by 1kgal
Summary: Oz is making Gilbert wear a mask and wont tell why. Gil is starts to get self-conscious about what his face looks like to the Young Master.


**Oh hello! What is this? More Oz and Gil when they both were little and cute~**

**More to come? You decide...**

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><p>Oz held a very strange thing in his hand. It was white with little metallic green spirals swirling around in little designs. He held it up to his face. A mask. Venetian style.<p>

"Gil. Put this on."

Gilbert looked at it incredulously.

"...excuse me?"

Oz brought the mask down and looked back with seriously set eyes. "Put this on, Gil."

Gilbert looked at the mask again, then back to the Young Master. Was he playing some sort of trick? Filled it up with something sticky or something along those lines. Oz held it out, Gil took it with caution. The inside was clean and clear as he passed a finger around the inside and felt the thick, green ribbon that would be used to hold it in place.

"Why?"

"Want me to help you putting it on?"

Gilbert shook his head. No. And whatever the Young Master's reasoning, he wasn't sharing it. Oh, well. Gil had no right to question Master anyway.

Oz watched with a careful eye as his friend disappeared behind the new face. It seemed to fit alright.

"How is it?"

Gil tied the ribbon and let his hands fall back down. "It feels much lighter than I expected."

That was true. It was also true that it felt cold and his vision was reduced to only being able to see straight forward. But the Young Master smiled. Gil could endure it.

"You have to see it for yourself! Come on!" Oz pinched Gilberts sleeve, tugging him towards the nearest mirror. That place happened to be the Young Master's bedroom.

Oz assembled the other young boy in front of the tall mirror that stood in the corner. It was strange to see...this stranger. The mask was expertly crafted. What was paper mache still looked elegant and smooth. Bursts of green on a blank face. Not only in color, but expression. Not a smile, nor a frown. The only problem was that he was wearing it.

"It doesn't look very good on me."

"What do you mean?"

This very composed and handsome looking face. A face that didn't belong on his wimpy body with thin limbs and seaweed hair. Gil felt he looked very ugly. His eyes searched for something, anything, that wasn't so hard to look at. _Oz._

Oz glowed with amiable feelings. As if Gilbert's appearance wasn't terrible. Even though Gilbert knew for sure it was. The Young Master was too kind. Too very kind to put on such an honest looking face. Gil reached up to untie the suffocating identity.

"Don't!"

He froze in place, staring back at Master Oz.

"...why?"

"Just don't."

Oz didn't elaborate any more than that. It felt wrong. Why couldn't he take this mask off?

"Let's go outside now! I've got a very special spot where we can play."

Gil followed closely behind his master as they sprinted through the large, manicured yard. Luckily the sun was keeping it's presence half-hidden behind a cloud, or this would have been much more demanding. Either way, Master's adventurous spirit would not be quelled by the means of heat. Infact, it may be fueled by it.

Oz ran on in a haphazard fashion, ducking under windows and going through hedges and over railings. It wasn't easy to keep up, but Gilbert never found him out of sight. Even _if_ sight was particularly hard with help from the mask. Around a corner and past two trees, a semi-circle was made out of a wild hedge, facing away from the mansion. Oz sat down with a look of pure delight. Why? There wasn't anything there.

"Isn't it great?"

"Of course." Whatever Master says has to be true.

Oz shoved Gilbert's shin with his foot. "No, it's not! It's nothing!"

Hm? "Then why did you say it was great?"

"To see if you'd _agree_."

"And I did."

"But you didn't mean it..."

That was true. Gil frowned something Oz wouldn't be able to see presently. What exactly was this all for? Oz despondently picked at his fingernails, every so often glancing up at the mask that hid his friend. Or looked at his friend. There was no way of knowing with the other in the way.

Gilbert went to remove the cover again, only to have Oz give him a look of misery.

"What is it..." Gil asked, kneeling back down and wishing that he could have already removed this faux face.

Oz looked back at him, probably and finally realizing how ugly such a pretty face made him seem in comparison. Gilbert felt his muscles tighten. If he were ugly, even with a pretty face, maybe he was even worse to look at with his regular face. Maybe...

"Master Oz. Is it, you do not want to see my face?"

"That's not it."

"Why then?"

Oz didn't anwser, feeling more and more dissapointed on how things were turning out. "Do you know why they would make masks like that? What they would use them for?"

"Wasn't it for carnivals?"

Oz nodded, "Yes. But they were also used outside of that. It was a device to hide their identity and social status. So they could interact with other people outside the bounds of everyday convention..."

"Aren't the "interactions" you're refirring to things like sexual encounters with strangers?"

"It didn't even have to be that!" Oz made sure to include. "It could even just be...maybe a servant treating his master as if they were equals. _You know_. Maybe they might not hide their true feelings about something. Someone... Stuff like that."

Gil stared back with a paper face, expressionless.

"I'm just afraid you don't like me!"

Like?

"I mean...how am I supposed to know how you feel about me if you always say what I want to hear? How can I know if I'm good enough? I don't want you to hate me, Gil. That's what I'm afraid of."

There was an abrupt bubble of laughter.

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry, I don't mean anything bad by laughing..."

The giggling grew louder as the mask slipped off and dropped to the ground beside them. Gil's face was flushed with a cheery pink, wearing a smile that was without peer.

"W-what do you mean by laughing then?"

"P-please, don't be offended," Gilbert said, the corner of his mouth still qwirked as if he could start laughing again anytime soon. "but hearing you say something like that... I didn't know what else to do. What made you think I don't like you, Master Oz?"

Oz paniced, ripping up handfuls a grass in a way to distract himself. "I don't _know. _What makes anyone think anything..."

"I don't _hate _you."

The blonde nodded. Yes. He knew that. Gil didn't hate anyone.

"I'm likeable too?"

"Likeable."

"Very likeable?"

"Enough."

"Are you doing this on purpose?"

"Doing what?"

"Acting like that."

"No."

Oz grinned and picked up the mask. So, Gil was just being Gil. He wasn't acting just for Oz. "So did you like this? It's pretty nice."

"Not really." Gil grimiced. "It was cold and stuffy."

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><p><strong>More? This could be a beginning of something great!<strong>

**So...review~**


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